Fear Itself was a horror anthology series that aired on NBC in the summer of 2008. The show covered topics like vampires, body switching, serial killers, Wendigos, and more. It included horror writers and directors Ronny Yu, Stuart Gordon, Mick Garris, John Landis, and Dan Knauf. Since the show was an anthology, notable actors could show up for a guest appearance, among them Brandon Routh (Superman Returns) Eric Roberts, Colin Ferguson (Eureka), William B. Davis (The X-Files) James Roday and Maggie Lawson (both from Psych in a great episode where they are a couple), Shiri Appleby (Roswell), and many other notable faces.
Fear Itself pushed the limits for what a horror series on network TV could get away with, but the ratings were lackluster. Eight episodes aired before a hiatus for the 2008 Summer Olympics with word that the series would finish after the Olympics. Sadly the series never returned to finish out its season and had five unaired episodes. At least now with Fear Itself: The Complete First Season, all 13 episodes are available to view.
Each episode comes with a five minute making of featurette, with interviews from the cast and crew. This was a nice extra, but some commentaries or longer featurettes would have been nice.
While kudos should be given to Lionsgate for getting the series out on DVD, points must be subtracted for the packaging. While the series comes in a cool tombstone case, the DVDs are double-sided and stacked on top of each other with no barrier between them; this means that there is a high likelihood of the DVDs getting scratched. But at least the entire series is available to watch and while some episodes are stronger than others (just like most anthology shows) it’s great to have this series on DVD and disappointing that NBC just let it die.
Article comments